Valve-adjusting device



mg, mm.

P. LEO

VALVE ADJUSTING DEVICE Filed April 12, 1920 Patented use 7, 1923;

PAUL LEO, OF ELIZETH, NEW JERSEY.

VALVE-ADJUSTING DEVICE.

Application filed April 12, 1920. Serial No. 373,071.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL LE0, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Eliz abeth in the county of Union and State of New ersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Valve-Adjusting Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to valve operating connections for internal combustion engines and to means for adjusting the same.

The invention provides a construction which is simple, and readily manufactured and which is capable of being applied to existing engines, by the simple substitution of a part of the valve operating connection such for example, as a part of the valve-rod or the rocker-arm.

The invention further provides a device which admits of making the adjustment of the parts to secure the proper setting thereof and proper operation of the valve with much greater ease, with the exercise of much less skill, and with much greater accuracy and speed than heretofore.

The invention further provides a novel combination and sub-combinations, hereinafter more fully set forth, for accomplishin the purposes of the invention.

everal embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein-- Figure 1 is a view, partly in elevation and partly in section,.of a valve-operating connection, and a valve and cam-shaft, constituting parts of an internal combustion engine.

' Figure 2 is a perspective view of the adjusting means applied to the valve-operating rod.

'Figures 3 and 4 are respectively a front and side view of a second embodiment of the adjusting means applied to the valveoperating rod.

Figure 5 is a side view of an embodiment of the adjusting means applied to the rocker-arm of the valve-operating connection.

Referring to said drawings, A designates a valve, of the usual. or any desired construction, comprising the valve proper a, stem a, closing spring a, butt a B designates a cam-shaft, having a cam b thereon, and C designates as a whole the operatilng connection between the cam-shaft and va ve.

suitable guide sleeve 21 and preferably hav ing at its end an antifriction roller 23 for bearing on the cam b. The connecting rod 17 ordinarily comprises a short piece 25 carrying the ball of the ball and socket connection 15, to which it is attached by a screw thread connection, the connection being made secure by means of a lock nut 29.

The adjustments for securing the proper timing and operation of the valve are ordinarily made by loosening the lock nut 29 and adjusting the connection of the rod to the ball piece 25, by means of the screw" threads, and thereafter tightening the lock nut. This means of efl'ecting the adjustment of the valve is however unsatisfactory, the work of making the adjustment being tedious and taking considerable time, owing to loosenes's or back-lash in the screw threads, which makes it a matter of chance andrepeated trials to secure the proper adjustment.

According to the present invention, a micrometer gauge in the form of an adjustable joint 30 is provided in some part of the operating connection C, said joint being of a character which avoids loose movement,-

and there is also preferably provided in conjunction with said adjustable joint a means for accurately indicating the amount of adjustment which is or may be the arts. I

T ree different embodiments of the adjustable joint 30 are illustrated in Figures 2, 3, and 5 respectively.

In Figures 1 and 2 the connecting rod 17 is shown as divided into the parts 17' and 17 and the adjustable joint 30 provided between these parts. The joint may be comprise a split nut 35, provided with a tightening screw or bolt 36, and threads 37 on the part 17' of the connecting rod. The'part -17.may be made of a standard length, and the part 17 2 may be made in a varietfy of the lengths so as to facilitate the fitting 0 given toiogs various sizes.

connections to engines of he clamping screw 36 preferabl acts at right angles to the'direction of ariiustment of the parts 17 and 35, and hence the tightening thereof does not act or tend to lengthen or shorten the rod The nut 35 may be provided with an upward projection 39, sharpened at one edge, as indlcated at 40, and serving as a pointer, and is adapted to coact with a disk or collar 42 which may be fastened on the part 17 of the connecting rod, and which is pro.- vided with graduations 43. The disk or collar 42 may also serve the purpose of a hand-wheel for turning the rod 17'.

By the present device, valves may be adjusted in a moment with absolute accuracy valve operating to within one or two tenths of a thousandth of an inch, by putting the cylinder on compression or explosion (so that both valves are normally closed), loosening the ti htening screw '36 of the split nut 35 unti? the rod 17 will just turn. The rod 17 is then turned until there is no clearance between the shoe 12 and the butt a of the valve stem. The rod 17 is then turned backwa-rdly to the extent required, (which' is known or learned by use of the engine) and the extent of turning can be measured to thousandths of an inch or less by observing the number of graduations which pass the pointer during the turning of the rod. If the pitch of the threads between the split nut 35 and rod 17' be 1/28 of an inch, and the disk 42 be provided with 36 divisions, each graduation will indicate a movement of one thousandth of an inch. After the adjustment is made, the clamp screw 36 of thesplit nut 35 is tightened, and the parts are t on secure.

In cases where the rocker arm 10 is not pivoted on its center and there is corre spondingly a greater or less radius of mo-' tion, provision can easily be made by the use of a dial with a greater or less number of graduations to meet the needs of the'particular case, or a correction chart may be furnished stating the number of degrees necessary to turn push rod for the articular, model of car or engine upon whic the devices are to be used.

It will be noted that tightening the ti htenin screw in my device does not ten to set t e ush rod'nearer, to the rocker arm nor furt or away from it, back lash is eliminated by the fact that it is only loosened sufficiently to allow of push rod 17 being revolved making a perfect fit between both male and female threads.

It usually requires an hour and one half or two hours to properly adjust valves for clearance, by prior devices. Too much clearance makes an engine noisy, a very large clearance interferes with the proper opera tion of the engine and will cause it to lose power. Too little clearance will cause the' valves to hold open when.they should be seated on the compression and explosion strokes etc. and even prevent any operation whatever of the engine. A condition of slightly, insufiicient clearance will cause the valves to hold open when the engine is cold or not warmed to its proper operating temperature which usua y approximates 180 degrees Fahrenheit preventing proper -oper ation of the engine and great loss of power, accompanied by general back firing through the carburetor (a very dangerous fault) ,nntil it reaches the proper temperature. Little clearance also tends to warp the valve stems.

Obviously valves must be given just the proper clearance. Manufacturers almost invariably prescribe in the book of inStruc tions accompanying each automobile manufactured by them what is the correct clearance to leave between rocker arm and valve stem. Some manufacurers even attach a metallic plate or tagto the engine stating the proper clearance to allow for the benefit of its users.

Generally speaking, exhaust valves must be given one or more thousandths of an inch clearance more than inlet valves, especially when their stems are long as exhaust valves almost invariably 0 rate at a hotter temperature than inlet vaii es.

The usual method of adjusting valves with previous devices consists in placing the cylinder to be worked on, on compression or explosion cycle. Loosening the lock nut holding ball end of push rod and screwing the ball end up or down until a feeler gauge of thlckness equalling the proper clearance can just be inserted between end of valve stem and rocker arm when the lock nut is tightened.

This operation requiresconsiderable skill as the act of tightening the lock nut tends to alter the clearance, due to back lash between ball end and threads on push rod and several trials must be made before the correct adjustment is attained, two or three thousandths of an inch even making a considerable difference in the running of the en me.

n some cases no ball end is rovided, the push rod fitting into a femae thread in tappet and the other fiat end of push rod striking one end of rockerarm. In this form of construction it is still, however, necessary to employ a lock nut to abut against the tappet and the back lash is a serious inipediment to correct adjustment as in the case of push rods of the former constructions'.

In the embodiment shown in Fi res 3 and t, the adjustable joint 30 comprises a s lit collar 50 in which the end of the'rod 17 fits, and a clamping screw 52 serves for'clamping neeaose moved. A nut 60 on a reduced shank 61 on the cam, extending through the block, serves for clamping the cam against the block, and binding. it against movement.

The method of adjusting the valve operating connections is similar to that of adjusting the embodiment of Figures 1 and 2. The screw 52 is loosened sufliciently to permit a movement of the rod 17 therein. The cam 57 is turned until the shoe 12 presses against the butt a of the valve-stem. The cam is then back-ed until it has been moved a number of raduations corresponding to the amount 0 clearance between the shoe 12 and the butt ar. The rod 17' is then forced down into the cam, and the screw 52 tightened to clamp the rod. The cam 57 may be pressed into binding engagement with the block 54:, by the nut 60, this preferably being done immediately after the cam is turned to the desired position of adjustment, so that it will not move during the moving of the rod during adjusting. The clamp screw 52 acts crosswise of the direction of adjustment of the parts 17 and 17 In the embodiment shown in Figure 5, the

rockenarm 10 is formed with an adjustable shoe 7 O, the shoe conveniently being pivoted to the rocker arm, as shownat 72. A cam is pivoted 'to the arm 10, and the shoe '70 adapted to bear against the side of said cam, said shoe being conveniently normally pressed against said cam by a sprin 76. A screw 77 serves for a pivot for sai cam, and also for binding it against the r0c'ker arm. The face of the cam 75 may be provided with graduations 7-9 proportional to the rise thereof, and a suitable pointer or indicator 80 may be provided in conjunction with the graduations. The embodiment of Figure 5 is ofespecial advantage where the rods 17 are enclosed in tubes, and where hence there would not be sufiicient spacefin the tubes for adjusting means between parts of the rod. Moreover adjusting means in the rod would be diiiicult to reach in such a case.

The embodiment of Figure 5 is manipulated in a manner similar to those of the preceding embodiments. The shoe 70 is first pressed down b the cam 75 against the butt a of the va ve stem. The cam is then backed ed to the re uired extent, and the screw 77 then tightene to clamp the cam against movement. The screw 77 acts in a bet the direction at right angles to the direction of ments than those herein specifically illustrated and described.

What is claimed is:

1. A valve operating connect-ion comprising two parts adapted to be adjusted toward and from one another in the direction of .the transmission of operative motion, one of the said parts provided with a series of graduations and the other of said parts pro-v vided with an indicator cooperating with said graduations for measuring the extent of movements of said parts.

'2. A valve operating connection comprising two parts adapted to be adjusted toward and from one another in the direction of the transmission of operative motion and a micrometer gauge operatively connected with said valve operating connection, said gauge -comprising a graduated disc and an indicator cooperating with the graduations on said disc for measuring the extent of movement of said valve parts.

3. A. valve operating connection comprising two parts adapted to be adjusted toward and from one another in the direction of the transmission ofope'rative motion, a micrometer gauge operatively connected with said valve ope'ratin connection, said gauge comprising a gra uated disc; an indicator cooperating with the graduations on said disc for measuring the extent of movement of said valve parts and means for clamping the parts against relative movement.

t. A valve operating connection com rising two parts adjustable toward and rum one another in the direction of the transmis sion of operative motion, one of said parts provided with a series of aduations and the other of said parts provided with an indicator cooperating with said graduations for measuring the extent of movements of said parts and means for clamping the parts against relative movement.

5. A valve operatin connection com rising two parts adjusta 1e toward and "rom one another in the direction of the transmission of operative motion, one of said parts provided with a series of graduations and the other of said parts provided with an indicator cooperating with said graduations for measurm the extent of movements of said parts an a split nut for clamping the parts against relative movement. I

6. A. valve operating connection comprising two parts and a micrometer gauge for obtaining adjustments of parts toward and from one another in the direction of the transmission of operative motion, said gauge comprising a graduateddisc mounted on one arts, an indicator mounted on the other oi theparts and cooperating with the gradnations on the disc and mleans for! clamping the parts against relative movement.

7. A valve operating connection comprising two parts and a micrometer gauge for I obtaining adjustments of parts toward and from one another in the direction of the transmission of operative motion, said gauge comprising a graduated disc mounted on one ofthe parts, an indicator mounted on the other of the parts and co'operatin with the gradua'tions on the disc and 3. sp '1: nut for clampingthe parts against relative movement.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this fifth day of April, A. D. 1920.-

PAUL LEO. 

